1999 Saturn SL from North America

Summary:

If there cars are "only built to last 100,000 miles" I am not going to be purchasing another one

Faults:

The coolant had a leak, which was fixed, right before the entire headgasket blew at 117,000 miles. We took it into the dealer and they said that "Cars are only made to last until 100,000 miles". They also admitted that it was a casting defect that the manufacturer knew about. They told me it was worth about 200 dollars and a piece of junk. Replacing it would be pointless at this point. Interesting, a car should only last 100,000 miles. He said he bought his girls each a saturn, but since he was on the outside looking in he knew to purchase a twin cam. I was not pleased with the service they gave me, nor the respect the dealership gave a woman.

27th Apr 2009, 21:59

Cars are built to last only as long as the warranty. If the warranty is 100k, then it is only built to last 100k. Whatever you get beyond that is due to the care of your car. I've seen BMW's hit 100k, and 400k, both the same model and year, both cared for differently.

1999 Saturn SL from North America

Summary:

Otherwise, this 1999 SL bare-bones car gets good gas mileage

Faults:

A plastic bushing in the manual transmission shift linkage broke. Saturn does not sell just the bushing, only the whole shift assembly for several hundred dollars. I found out over the Internet that other Saturn owners have encountered the same broken shift bushing problem. There is even an individual selling a bushing replacement for just a few dollars. Given that Saturn tries to create such a positive owner image, I find it ridiculous that they don't sell just the part in question. Why not just sell you a whole new car when the tires wear out!

Additionally, I have had to alternator once and the battery several times. As this car is driven by son at school, it was serviced for this problem by a local Saturn dealership. I would normally think of this as simple maintenance, but my daughter drives a 1996 SL2 and has also replaced the alternator and battery several times before having 90,000 miles on her car.

My sons and daughters Saturn's together have gone through more batteries and alternators than my old 1977 Oldsmobile with 350,000 miles!

General Comments:

My son and daughters Saturn's together have gone through more batteries and alternators than my 28 year old 1977 Oldsmobile with 350,000 miles!

30th Sep 2005, 01:17

I would really like to know who is selling the bushing for a few dollars, I just had mine break and need a replacement fast as I am now without a car. If you can just send his name to Spydertl33@hotmail.com.

18th Dec 2007, 13:27

My 1999 Saturn did the same thing last Friday when I was leaving work. I was able to jam it into 2nd and drove 23 miles home. Man did I annoy some people. Anyway, I confirmed with Saturn. They do not offer just the bushing. It's funny how that works out for them, isn't it? I used wire for a temporary fix. I'm going to home depot to buy a couple of washers. I'm going to drill a small hole through the ball; attach the washers, and thread a screw through that. Hopefully, this will be a permanent fix.